Former Thai opposition leader Pita Limjaroenrat speaks to DW about Thailand’s future and his hopes to still some day become prime minister.

Pita led the reformist Move Forward party to winning the most seats in last year’s elections, only to be blocked from becoming prime minister. The party was also shut out of the governing coalition. Pita subsequently resigned as leader and was briefly suspended from parliament.

Now Move Forward is threatened by a potential dissolution order from Thailand’s Constitutional Court next month, after judges said its policies to reform laws on defaming the royal family were unconstitutional.

Thailand has notoriously strict lèse majesté laws. Hundreds of activists have been imprisoned in recent years for breaching them.

28-year-old royal reform activist Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom was jailed in January on charges of defaming the royal family, after conducting public opinion polls on Thai royal family motorcades.

Netiporn died in prison on Tuesday after going on hunger strike for over a hundred days, as part of a protest against the government’s treatment of political prisoners. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has ordered an investigation into her death.

00:00 Thai political activist dies in pre-trial detention
00:49 Pita Limjaroenrat, Member of Thai Parliament

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